NY Summer/ Usher, Keith Urban and Natasha Bedingfield

Today I had the day off from work, and not much planned. I heard on the news that there was a free concert at Columbus Circle to kick off the NFL season. On the off-chance that it wasn't too wildly crazy, I put on my sunscreen, hat, and took the train to 59th street, walked right through the police barricades and found myself a great spot where I could see all the performers - Natasha Bedingfield, Keith Urban and Usher. Wow!!

I kind of wish this summer would never end.

The fact that it was a tough crowd will be edited out for TV broadcasts, I'm sure. We were all in the hot sun for hours before the actual show started (it was supposed to start at 3, but it didn't start til after 4). There were lots of NFL propaganda videos and speeches that people were not happy about. Mayor Bloomberg got booed!!

Zach Levi from the TV show "Chuck" and Alyson Sweeney from "Biggest Loser" were the talking heads during the concert, and they were both great with the crowd - very personable and real. I was impressed.

Each musical performer had the obstacle of the fact that most people in the crowd were there to see one of them - not all of them. Usher had the biggest draw. That was pretty apparent. But, yeah, Natasha and Keith had to work pretty hard to get the Usher crowd's attention. They both encouraged the audience to sing along on their songs, and no one did. I'm sure it was different than their usual loving crowds. New Yorkers are tough, especially if they're waiting for Usher.

Also, neither Keith or Natasha are American, so I'm sure that was an additional obstacle.

Natasha Bedingfield came out in these rockin' white pants. She's very charismatic, and sings great. The folks around me were not too excited about Natasha though. On her song, "Pocketful of Sunshine" the chorus says "Take me away...." and everyone around me was saying "take her away!" She still was totally awesome though. If it rattled her, you would never know it. I came away a big fan.

Keith Urban sounded great. And his band was awesome. He seemed to win over the crowd - especially when he acknowledged how bad the pacing was "I'm sorry for all the pauses folks, it's Television" and did his guitar solo walking through the crowd. Everyone went crazy - despite the fact that no one knew his songs. By the end I even saw a few of the Brothers tapping their feet.

Usher was the last act today, and he was really great. Such a showman, catchy songs, exciting staging, etc... I liked him a lot more than I thought I would. The part where he strips off his shirt is RIDICULOUS (but he does have a smokin' 6-pack worth of abs)



After the concert, I went to see my friend Paul's band - Bacci - at Dinosaur Barbeque in West Harlem. That band is really unique and GREAT! Everyone loves them. I hope to see Bacci on the NFL stage in the next year or two.

This was a great summer, especially because of the great concerts I saw. Go New York!